Land Sector Program Lead Jacqui Bell ponders what freight decarbonisation means for regional Australia off the back of a commercial vehicle decarbonisation summit at Parliament House. 

Our Land Sector Program Lead Jacqui Bell attended Freight Forward summit on commercial vehicle decarbonisation at Parliament House on 30 March 2026, hosted by Energy Futures Foundation. This event could not have been timelier, as we grapple with fuel security as a nation. It’s also deeply relevant to our work with regional communities here at The Next Economy. 

Jacqui heard how Australia imports 90% of our transportation fuel and moves more freight per person than any other country. She also learnt that 98% of businesses in Australia’s freight transport system are owned by small to medium businesses, 2% by owned by large corporate freight and logistics operators. Those big businesses have the power to send signals down the supply chains to make the transition work, but those signals must be backed by investment, education and support to shift. 

Here are some more of Jacqui’s reflections post-summit about what she heard and what this might mean for our work with regional communities. 

I’m really curious about the “lopsided economics of transport” (to quote Transport Workers Union National Secretary Michael Kaine). While large logistics companies move a significant share of Australia’s freight through linehaul networks, the system relies heavily on small and medium operators (think local businesses and independent drivers) to complete last-mile delivery and provide regional coverage from depot to door/gate. They make up around 98% of freight businesses in Australia and are critical to how the freight system actually functions.  These businesses are embedded within large supply chains, not separate from them. Additionally in many regions there are more unlikely suspects that will be affected by the sector transition – think the farmer who owns machinery and trucks or the locally owned and managed service station which plays a role similar but different to the local pub.  

Australia’s freight and logistics system in Australia is important for regional Australia and communities. Australia’s freight system in many cases keep regional economies moving, and are critical to the viability of local industries and businesses and local spend. Changes in this sector aren’t going to just impact the trucks we see on the road or how and where they charge to ‘refuel’, sectoral change in technology, ownership, power and system design have the potential to create a ripple effect or more likely a tsunami of impacts for other regional communities, local businesses and industries, regional economies and serviceability across more rural and remote parts of Australia.  Not to mention have significant implications for other sectors in transition such as energy. 

There are practical challenges for freight decarbonisation in regional Australia. Much of our local infrastructure, like roads and bridges, are no longer fit-for purpose for the future transport and freight system we need to transition well. There’s also questions about energy access including poles and wire infrastructure, which is not reliable or extensive enough to provide energy where it is going to be needed. There’s the fragmentation of the industry between technologies, ownership, scale and size. And that’s not to mention the practicalities of dealing with digitisation of machinery, and their serviceability etc. We hear of farmers who are stockpiling trucks and machinery because malfunctioning digital systems in machines are too disruptive for day-to-day operations. 

While there are challenges, there are also opportunities. Regions like Hay in NSW could be partners for investment; they have space for microgrids, potential for their own energy production (e.g., wind turbines) and the region is already strategically located on major trucking routes. How do we support a region like Hay to establish its own charging and servicing infrastructure and move away from providers just ‘coming in over’, doing their own thing and taking spend out of the local economy? 

We need regional voices. They need to be in the room and around the table of these conversations to make sure that workers, and small to medium business owners and regional agencies are part of the process and involved in shaping the solutions.  

This conversation goes beyond reducing emissions. Freight is one of the biggest vulnerabilities to our nation’s economy, and its decarbonisation is also about building resilience. 

The transition of the sector is probably going to require a mix of technologies. It’s not just electrification of vehicles, but there may also be discrete roles for green hydrogen and biofuels in some cases (although the jury seems still a bit out on this). It is a question of the right mix – the right trucks for the right segments. 

Ultimately, this is not a technical challenge; this is a socioecological challenge.  The technology is here for decarbonisation of freight and many commercial vehicles are due to be changed over. This is an implementation challenge. Some stats suggest we are in a ‘window of opportunity’ where a large number of vehicles are due to be upgraded in the next 5 years; the push is to shift from diesel to EV now. While there is a high upfront capital price, ongoing fuel prices make the shift favourable. Panels from Woolworths, Fortescue, and IKEA, for instance, noted that the business case (for transition) stacked up even with pre-crisis prices. But how do we support this to happen? There was a lot of talk about misinformation, knowledge, and understanding. 

There’s a big question around the overall design of the system. Air Vice-Marshal John Blackburn, former Deputy Chief of the Air Force, current Chair, Institute for Integrated Economic Research Australia made this point, noting we appear to be arguing the components. There was also much discussion about charging infrastructure, the need for it, how to roll it out and who owns and accesses it. What will this mean for the majority of small to medium businesses that need to use that infrastructure? 

My final take home is that there is different work that needs to be done in this moment. We need to navigate through this crisis, making sure that we don’t lock ourselves into something we can’t easily undo.  And then we need to get realistic about a ‘funded’ transition that is fair, sustainable, keeps people safe, keeps the industry viable, and supports regional communities and economies. 

Questions I’m still thinking about: 

• What happens to small ‘Ma and Pa’ independent fuel stations who play such an important role in regional communities? 

• How do we take care of society of our people and places as we transition so we continue to be a place that we want to live, where prosperity is shared? 

• How are people in the sector thinking about these social elements of this challenge and transition?  

• How can regions whose economies rely a large part on freight and logistics to keep their economy going, be a part of this conversation about enabling infrastructure and system redesign? 

• If transport comes to a standstill and/or if it shifts into a totally different system that locks out local businesses and operators, how do we prepare communities and build the socioeconomic conditions and capacity required to endure and adapt? 

• If most freight and logistics companies are run and owned by small to medium business owners around Australia, how do we support that system to move in a way that doesn’t involve carrying the cost burden of change without having a share in the rewards of moving?